In ancient Egypt , offerings were presentedevery dayto a divine being , such as a god or a king , to mollify them or to receive a favor . These gifts came in a variety of forms , such as solid food , drink , and even dry up animals , which were highly well-thought-of in this culture . But it turns out that the Egyptians could n’t quite keep up with all this need for goods , so they were forced to get a little creative .
After scanning more than800 bandaged bundlesrecovered from immense Egyptian grave , archeologists base in Manchester have found that the Egyptians often cheated when put up animal mummies , wrapping up clay and bits of foliage in plaza of an actual beast . In fact , this exercise was so commonplace that only a third of those analyzed actually contained accomplished animate being .
“ We always knew that not all animal mummies contained what we expected them to incorporate , ” University of Manchester Egyptologist Dr Lidija McKnight explains to theBBC , “ but we found that around a third do n’t control any animal material at all - so no skeletal remains . ”
You may adore your dear flossy cat , but the ancient Egyptians took animal worshipping to another story . Not only were they considered crucial to survival , but many were look as sacred as theybelievedthat their gods and goddesses could seem on Earth in the forms of various animals , peculiarly birds . Falcons and mortarboard , for example , represented the god Horus , and computed tomography symbolized the Lord’s Day god Ra .
Those affiliate with a deity , or even personal pets , would therefore live alife of luxuryand were mummify upon last before being ceremonially buried . Evidence for such practices has been found at all periods , but during the Late Period ( 661 - 332 BCE ) , the Egyptians lead off mass nurture animals specifically for sale and subsequent entombment asvotive giftsto deities so as to shew a relationship with them .
“ Today , you ’d have a taper in a cathedral ; in Egyptian time , you would have an fauna mommy , ” Dr Campbell Price , curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum , explain to theBBC . “ You would go to a special site , purchase an animate being mummy , using a organization of trade . You ’d then give it to a priest , who would collect a group of animal mummies and bury them . ”
But it seems that , despite the organisation ofindustrial - scale breeding programme , Egyptian mummy Maker just could n’t keep up . This is the conclusion recently drawn by investigator from the University of Manchester and Manchester Museum , who have been busybodied using cristal - shaft of light and CT scans to peer inside package of cloth recover from vast catacomb in Egypt . Each individual grave seems to have been commit to one particular creature , and they were absolutely fix - packed with millions of mummified offerings .
Although around one third of those scanned did indeed curb total animals , which were remarkably well - keep , the rest either contained partial remains or constituent material like reeds or branchlet , albeit some was at least associated with a particular creature , such as feather .
So were the Egyptians really trying to play a joke on the Supreme Being ? Probably not , conclude the investigator . “ We retrieve they were mummifying piece of music of brute that were lying around , or materials affiliate with the animals during their lifetime- so nest material or eggshells , ” McKnight told theBBC . “ They were special because they had been in close law of proximity with the animals- even though they were n’t the beast themselves . ”
